EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has locked a deal to acquire the David Dobkin spec script Arthur & Lancelot for $2 million in a bidding war that involved Universal and Fox. Script is a $90 million budget contemporary re-imagining of the classic tale. Dobkin will direct, and he just completed the Universal comedy The Change-Up. . . . When a studio puts up that kind of money like was done for the Dobkin project, you can bet that is the one that takes precedence and you can expect the others to fade away.

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A dark version of Lancelot and Arthur? Now that would be new. Generally the story of the infidelity of Guinevere and the breakup of the roundtable is treated as a light-hearted romp. What will they think of next? How about a sequel where they make Mordred a villain? I'm telling you, these edgy and dark creative geniuses really just bring such new life to old stories.

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I hope it's great or that it's awful and no one remembers it. Otherwise, it'll put a hitch in my plan to adapt the second half of "The Once and Future King" into a decent flick.

It's a lifelong ambition. We'll see. As long as they keep making crappy Arthur movies and as long as people are still seeing them, there's a place in the market for a good Lancelot one down the line.

Only the second half? Why not the whole thing? The Once and Future King could use Lord of the Rings treatment on film as far as I'm concerned. The Arthurian legend was one of the inspirations for Tolkien in the first place. The Sword in the Stone gives Merlin some of his best lines - and solidifies the philosophy behind what Arthur is trying to do in the next three books. And Queen of Air and Darkness makes the four Orkney brothers in the important characters they need to be for the second half.

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I hope it's great or that it's awful and no one remembers it. Otherwise, it'll put a hitch in my plan to adapt the second half of "The Once and Future King" into a decent flick.

It's a lifelong ambition. We'll see. As long as they keep making crappy Arthur movies and as long as people are still seeing them, there's a place in the market for a good Lancelot one down the line.

Only the second half? Why not the whole thing? The Once and Future King could use Lord of the Rings treatment on film as far as I'm concerned. The Arthurian legend was one of the inspirations for Tolkien in the first place. The Sword in the Stone gives Merlin some of his best lines - and solidifies the philosophy behind what Arthur is trying to do in the next three books. And Queen of Air and Darkness makes the four Orkney brothers in the important characters they need to be for the second half.

Oh, you're absolutely right. A trilogy or 4-parter would be ideal-- I just figured if I only had one shot I'd get the Ill-Made Knight in there .

EXCLUSIVE: Legendary Pictures’ Paradise Lost isn’t the only film being readied on the Warner Bros lot to face a budget crisis. Arthur & Lancelot, the David Dobkin script that Warner Bros paid $2 million to acquire last summer, won’t get made unless the budget drops dramatically. I’m told that even though Warner Bros dated the film for a March 15, 2013 release and cast Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington to play Arthur and The Killing‘s Joel Kinnaman to play Lancelot, the back and forth on budget has gotten to the point that the studio has invited Dobkin to set the picture up elsewhere if he can. I’ve heard that what started as a $90 million (other sources said Warners would make it for $110 million) contemporary style re-imagining of the Sword And The Stone tale has a budget the studio fears could reach $130 million. The studio feels that is just too much for a movie with two unproven leads. After the year’s wild box office swings and last weekend’s paltry performance, who can blame Warner Bros for being cautious?

It is obviously a Warner Bros goal to tell the story of Arthur, Lancelot and the Knights of the Roundtable, because the Dobkin spec supplanted two others that the studio had in development. The studio is keen to see through Dobkin’s version of the film (the spec deal allowed Dobkin to take it elsewhere if he and Warner Bros disagreed), but I’ve heard that if Arthur & Lancelot doesn’t figure it out, Ritchie might once again be trying to pull the sword out of the stone. . . .

Other Knights Of The Roundtable projects previously considered by WB was a remake of the 1981 John Boorman pic Excalibur that had Bryan Singer attached; there was a version that Sherlock Holmes helmer Guy Ritchie was working on with Trainspotting scribe John Hodge. There is also a Harry Potter-style take being produced by Donald DeLine that isn’t really impacted by any of this. Warner Bros would not comment on the Arthur & Lancelot situation.

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David Dobkin is writing and directing the pic, which was expected to go into production in January but wound up postponed due to budget and other concerns. Charles Roven will produce.

At the time Kit Harington was set to play King Arthur and Joel Kinniman was on board to play Lancelot, but when Warners pulled the plug both actors fell out due to scheduling conflicts.

With Farrell the film not only looks to be up and running, but the studio now has a more recognizable star in place. Some sources said the lack of that star was part of the reason Warners was wary about moving forward in January. . . .